The Prime Minister has announced unprecedented measures in the Government’s bid to halt the spread of COVID-19. Crossrail Ltd is a subsidiary of Transport for London and aligned with TfL’s policy and procedures for the management of the coronavirus risk.

Mike Brown MVO, London’s Transport Commissioner, said: “The Government and the Mayor have given clear instructions to stay safe and to stop travelling in all cases other than critical workers making absolutely essential journeys.

“In line with this, TfL and Crossrail will be bringing all project sites to a temporary Safe Stop unless they need to continue for operational safety reasons. This means that work on all such projects will be temporarily suspended as soon as it is safe to do so. Essential maintenance of the transport network will of course continue.

“This is being done to ensure the safety of our construction and project teams and also to further reduce the number of people travelling on the public transport network. It is vital that the transport network is only used by critical workers. As we work through these issues with our supply chain, consideration will be given to the impact on workers, particularly those who are on low incomes.”

Mark Wild, Chief Executive, Crossrail Ltd said: “Essential and business critical work continues across the Crossrail programme but our priority is to keep our people safe and limit movement. Last week we asked everyone who could work from home to do so and put in place measures to limit movement across the programme. As a further measure we have taken the decision with our Tier 1 contractors to temporarily stop station activity and close our sites until further notice.

“While we are doing everything we safely can to keep the Crossrail programme on track, COVID-19 will have an impact – it’s too early to tell what that impact will be. We are doing everything we can to support our principal contractors during this difficult and challenging time. Our arrangements remain under constant review and we are liaising closely with our Tier 1 contractors and their supply chains to ensure that the Crossrail programme continues to be delivered safely.”

ENDS

Information for journalist:

As we have done throughout Crossrail Ltd has been closely following the advice of Public Health England – with immediate effect from Monday last week we asked everyone who could work from home to do so and implemented measures to limit movement across our station sites. Crossrail’s Tier 1 contractors also introduced measures last week to reduce the numbers of people who were required to work on site.

The safety and wellbeing of our staff is paramount and as a further measure to limit movement, Crossrail sites across London will now temporarily close until further notice - we are now working with our Tier 1 contractors to safely close down sites at the earliest opportunity.

Much of the central section is now substantially complete with the major focus on completing software development for the signalling and train systems along with safety assurance certification for the railway. Much of this technology and assurance work is undertaken remotely by our supply chain across the UK and Europe. The key focus for Crossrail is completing software development for the signalling and train systems along with safety assurance for the railway so that intensive operational testing, known as Trial Running, can commence.